Buffalo has been Division I a bit longer. The Bulls moved to Division I-AA, now labeled the Football Championship Subdivision, in 1993, and they progressed to FBS status in 1999 as a Mid-American Conference member.

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Season openers

UAlbany at Buffalo

When: 3:30 p.m. Saturday

Where: University at Buffalo Stadium

TV/radio: ESPN3.com; WGY 810 AM/103.1 FM

Norwich at RPI

When: Noon Saturday

Where: East Campus Athletic Village, Troy

Radio: WRPI 91.5 FM

Ithaca at Union

When: 1 p.m. Saturday

Where: Frank Bailey Field, Schenectady

TV/radio: Time Warner Cable SportsChannel (Ch. 50); WPTR 1240 AM

The Great Danes became I-AA in 1998 and joined the more-competitive CAA, though still in the FCS category, in 2013.

"We can't wait to get in there," junior lineman Adam Wierbinski said of the trip across the New York Thruway. "A lot of guys have been recruited by Buffalo. A lot of guys are from around there, so we come in there with a little chip on our shoulders. We try to come up there and prove we belong with a D1 single-A program."

UAlbany, despite leading the series against UB 7-4 (all during both schools' Division III days), comes in with built-in obstacles.

FBS schools can carry 85 scholarship players; FCS have only 63. Buffalo has seniors in 12 of 22 starting positions; UA has three.

Just the inherent difference in competition level plays a role. After this game, UB hits the road to face FBS power Penn State.

"There's obviously a little concern with younger guys," UAlbany junior linebacker Michael Nicastro said, "but there's enough talent and leadership on the team that we can all ride together."

The Buffalo trip is a "guarantee" game, common in the CAA, in which a team will travel to play up a level and receive money in return. In other words, Buffalo won't be traveling here to play.

"We'd like to (play a guarantee game) every year, and that's what we're working on," Gattuso said. "We're going to play Buffalo this year and next, and hopefully in '17 we're getting close to another team, and '18 is Pitt and '19 we're working on somebody, as well.

"That's part of what we want to be. To be in our conference and compete in our conference, we have to play against that type of competition. It helps us in recruiting, so we're going to continue to do it every year."

The Bulls are coming off a 5-6 year (3-4 MAC) and have a new coach in Lance Leipold, who was 109-6 and won six NCAA Division III titles in eight seasons at Wisconsin-Whitewater.

The Danes are stable on the coaching front but will be breaking in a new quarterback after the graduation of three-year starter Will Fiacchi. Sophomore DJ Crook, a transfer from Penn State, gets the call.

"Last year was hard in the beginning," Gattuso said. "It's not just taking over a new program; it's taking over for a tradition and a group of people that has had the same coach for a long time, and a great coach and a great person. There were a lot of different types of stress last year. This year, this is our team now."

Nothing would make that point better than an upset of an FBS school.

"There's always a certain amount of risk going into any football game," Wierbinski said, "but we try to get as much positive out of it as we can. We look at it as risk vs. reward. We like to come out with as many rewards as we can get. ... We know we can beat these guys."